MN's Accordo Presents A TRIBUTE TO DEBUSSY ON HIS 150th Concert, 12/3

The second concert of Accordo’s 2012-13 season is a celebration of the great composer Debussy on his 150th birthday and includes works by Janácek, Ravel, Debussy, and Fauré, selected by members of the ensemble. Special guest Benjamin Hochman, acclaimed pianist and winner of 2011's prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant, will join the "chamber music supergroup" (TC Daily Planet) for the December 3 program.

“We wanted to honor Debussy's creative legacy next to his younger colleague Ravel's amazing string quartet (inspired by Debussy's own ten years before) and Ravel's teacher Fauré’s lush, romantic c minor piano quartet,” said Accordo member Steven Copes. “Incidentally, both Debussy and Fauré had widely divergent opinions about Ravel's 1903 quartet! Czech composer Janácek's eclectic violin sonata is, of course, the odd man out, but his harmonic daring and use of sound colors and effects feel a natural fit next to progressive musical innovator such as Claude Debussy.”

“The presenting partners continue to be thrilled by their involvement with Accordo,” said Northrop Concerts & Lectures Director Ben Johnson. “In light of what is happening in the classical music scene in the Twin Cities, I am heartened by the fact that we are doing our part to support and sustain our community’s best artists.”

Accordo, established in 2009, is a Minnesota-based chamber group made up of some of the very best instrumentalists in the country, eager to share their love of classical and contemporary chamber music in intimate and unique performance spaces. Its fourth season (2012-13) will be presented by The Schubert Club, Northrop Concerts and Lectures, and Kate Nordstrum Projects at the National Historic Landmark Christ Church Lutheran, one of the Twin Cities’ great architectural treasures designed by the esteemed architect Eliel Saarinen and his son Eero Saarinen.